I thoroughly enjoyed the film O brother, where art thou? George Clooney has always been one of my favorite actors so I enjoyed this movie more than I had anticipated. I found the first couple of scenes in the movie to be especially comedic and I thought I would take this blog post to share why I appreciated them so much. Throughout the movie, the group dynamic between Everett, Pete, and Delmar was funny and refreshing. Some of the conversations they had and their ability to assess a situation, come up with a plan, and deal with all the obstacles they faced with after escaping from the chain gang was truly interesting to watch.
After the group escapes from the chain gang, they seek shelter for the night with Pete’s cousin. In the middle of the night, they wake up to sirens and quickly realize that the house they are in is surrounded by authorities. When they go to the window of the house, they peek outside and see Judas (Pete’s cousin) conferring with the authorities. Judas explains that he “knows they are kin” but had to turn them in to get money for his family due to the depression which has gotten them into a tough financial situation. Pete responds with one of the funniest and easily my favorite line in the entire movie. Pointing at his cousin, he says (in the loudest, thickest southern accent) “I’m gonna KIIILL you, Judas Iscariot Hogwallop! You miserable, horse-eatin, son of—”. This is hilarious because right as he is about to end his sentence, the sound of bullets takes over and he can’t end the sentence. I also found it funny how he uses his cousin’s full name instead of just his first name like he probably normally would. Over the course of the next two minutes, Everett proceeds to say the line “we are in a tight spot” 5 times. Every time he says it, I though it was funnier because it is obvious that they are indeed in a tight spot and that is probably an understatement given that the authorities start out by shooting at them and then begin dumping gasoline on the house and lighting it on fire.
Just like expected, the group finds a way to turn the situation in their favor and escape. While Pete is still screaming at his cousin “you lousy, low down, yellow bellied goat…”, Everett tries to negotiate with the authorities. Pete grabs the stick (lit with fire) that the authorities hurl at the boys and flings it back at them.
I quite liked this post! I also found the "we are in a tight spot" funny not just because of the repetition that you mentioned but also because of how odd of a thing it was for the smarter character to say in that situation which was so obviously a tight spot. I agree, too, that the insults thrown were quite comical.
ReplyDeleteThe movie often brings comedy to situations that would normally be quite serious. The scene you highlighted is a perfect example of this. The "we are in a tight spot" brings comedy to a matter of life and death. Another example is the comedic escape from the Ku Klux Klan which would normally be a grave scene to depict.
ReplyDeleteYes you are right Daniel. The filmmakers are able to "lighten up" these scenes by adding these comedic elements. I completely forgot about the Klu Klux Klan scene which should have probably had a much more serious portrayal but the comedic elements don't allow for that.
DeleteI agree that part of the comedy is that its featured heavily in scenes that could be fairly serious in another film. The fact is, they were in a tight spot, so there's a kind of hilarity to pointing it out and doing pretty much nothing about it.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, I hadn't picked up that Pete's cousin's name was Judas Iscariot Hogwallop. That's really funny to me because in The Bible, the disciple that betrayed Jesus was named Judas Iscariot. This Judas also betraying Pete had to be put into the plot to get laughs. It's interesting that another character from The Bible, the devil-- who Tommy Johnson sold his soul to-- also shows up in this movie.
ReplyDeleteWhen watching that scene, though, I also laughed a lot. The character's lines mixed with their situation made it every enjoyable.
The comparison hadn't occurred to me before, but Everett's "we're in a tight spot!" resembles Anse's immortal "if only the bridge was up we could go across"--both examples of dubious "leaders" saying pointless things at the least opportune time. _O Brother_ is clearly comedic in its intentions, and we totally get that the repetition is a joke--but it's a good way to illustrate the less-eassy-to-see comedic elements in _AILD_, when you have Anse performing basically the same gag when *they* are in a tight spot.
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